A lot had happened meanwhile but the most important was the last metamorphosis of The Mistique Moth into Chiramó! It spread its wings and flew high shrouded in colors and dreams.

Chiramó Jewelry aims at taking the work of The Mistique Moth to another level, meeting the international public and expectations. Thus, the Chiramó Jewelry shop on Etsy came into being and thanks to the almighty, Chiramó jewelry will be displayed in Florence this winter, along with the works of other 25 Italian artists from Etsy community (details here).

So, this being said, I wish you’d follow my new blog and fb page to keep in touch with the latest news and creations. Also, if you want to make an eco-friendly, one-of-a-kind present this winter and to support my work, I welcome you to my etsy shop.

As this will be my last post here, on The Mistique Moth, I wish you all, by now, a beautiful and joyous wintertime and Christmas with friends and family around!

Thank you for appreciating and supporting my work so far. I look forward to continuing this beautiful trip together on Chiramó Jewelry!

Thank you 2016 for all the wonderful people you’ve made me meet, for all the places you took me to, for all the great joy you brought into my life and even more for the fails, the tears, the deaths and resurrections, for all the metamorphoses that happened behind the skin.
Welcome 2017! You’ll be even better cause we’re older and wiser! 🙂 I just can’t wait!!! 😀
And, at the end of this year, a thought of gratitude goes to all of you who appreciate and support my work! Thank you all!!!

Winter is coming! What a time of wonder! Let us, women, dive into this fairy tale and become its first protagonist, full of grace, wisdom and beauty.

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“Winter Wonder” is very distinctive from my other jewelry collecrions because it brings in many new elements. New materials: the corrugated cardboard, the silver plated copper and, probably, above all, the color: white. All these I avoided all along in my work, having a preference for deep colors, vintage and aged elements and using mostly brass wire and bronze findings to complement the jewelry. . So, this is a 180 degrees turn in my work and for me is very refreshing, inspiring and motivating. I loved every stage of the process: making the beads, thinking the design, actually making the jewelry and finally taking the pictures… every one of these brought me another kind of satisfaction but above all is the satisfaction I get when I see the delight in the eyes of my lovely customers when they see the jewelry life, when they try it on.

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The beads are made individually from upcycled corrugated cardboard. They are made individually, by hand, cut, glued and varnished several times, with water-based varnish. The hue of the beads is that of the paper. The beads are not painted. The metal part is silver plated copper.

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If you’re looking for a special present this year, this might be the one!

Coming soon, at the end of this month, bringing in front of the public selected works of Transylanaian craftsmen and interesting talks about how to bring the handmade business to the next level, in the elegant Cazino building in The Central Park, Cluj-Napoca,

HANDMADE BUSINESS FESTIVAL

25th Nov. : 4 p.m – 9 p.m.

26th Nov. : 4 p.m. – 9 p.m.

27th Nov: 10 a.m – 9 p.m.

I will be present at this event with a brand new collection of recycled paper jewelry and I’m very anxious to meet you again!

Some of you may have heard, some don’t of the Repair Cafe concept, the place where people meet trying to repair, recycle, repurpose things in order to reduce consumption and waste. There are places like this in many cities around the world and people have good time together, learning new things and skills and getting back home with an item ready to use, and which they no longer have to throw away.

Happily there is something like this in my city, Cluj-Napoca, Romania. Generous and devoted people like Dan, Adela, Ovidiu and all the volunteers and supporters around them are trying to give this opportunity to our local community.

This week was the celebration of International Repair Cafe Week and many interesting events were happening relating to this subject. Here you can find the detailed programme of Repair Cafe Cluj Week.

Among them, there is an upcycling evening, this evening, 21st October, in a nice downtown cafe, Doamna T, (no10 Napoca Str.), where I was invited, along with other tallented craftsmen, to try to make new thinhs from old yarns, clothes, papers etc. You can bring with you any old “rubbish” that you have, old T-shirts, scarves, yarns, papers, whatever you think will fit.

For my demonstration you don’t need to bring anything as I will provide all the necessary but, in case you have some paper that you like and want to try something with it, don’t hesitate! Also, if you have old, broken jewelry that you still love and don’t want to lose it, bring it here and I’ll try to save it for you.

So, I gladly invite you to join us on this adventure! It will be great fun I can assure you!

I’ll come back later with some pictures.

As I expected, lovely people, warm atmosphere, good tea and cookies and great enthusiasm for rolling paper 🙂

Papelier is a studio in Bucharest where enthusiastic people are recycling, reusing, remodelling paper, in an artistic manner, trying to keep the planet a little cleaner and safer. They are very active, taking part in many artistical events and launching themselves in many interesting projects. You can check out their activity here: https://www.facebook.com/AtelierPapelier

So, as a manifestation of their positive inquisitive nature, popped up the question “what kind of jewelry can this Mistique Moth reveal from our long and carefully processed paper?”

And here’s what she did:

It was so wonderful working with this paper… I could feel the texture of mixed fibers… I couldn’t use a cutter as I usually do; I tore up the papaer, acrefully, by hand, so you can see the uneven edges that give the bead an organic look. Of course, I couldn’t varnish them either, their fragility adding much to tehir special charm.

So, yes, these are just the firs two pairs of earrings created out of this unique handmade paper made by Papelier studio.